Guys, he must be doing something right. Coach has given them all goals he wants them to try to meet. He gave them to them about 2 weeks ago and they are looking at the 1st of April to try to meet them. His goal for the bench press is an increase of 15 pounds. He has not had a chance to give it a go yet. His goal on the power clean is an increase of 25 pounds. He gave it a go today and went up 5 then tried it again and went up another 5 for a total of 10 today. That was the first thing he told me when he got in the car.

I went with my 19 and 15 year old sons today to workout. Today was upper body. The 19 year old just finished his freshman year of college. He is planning to be a college football coach and has had classes on exercise and putting together health plans and workouts. He is incorporating that stuff along with workouts he did when playing high school football and basketball. He lost weight when he first went to college but he has put on 10 to 15 pounds since he started working out. He is planning to help his little brother a lot over the Summer. I'm going with them.

I'm not sure I will be able to move my arms in the morning.

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Take longggggggggggggggg hottttttttttttt showers after those workouts. It helps release the lactic acid buildup in your muscles. This keeps the soreness down to a minimum.

Leaf, its kind of funny that I saw your Facebook post this morning saying to go out and post some PRs this week. My son texted me after school and he set one on his Bench Press today at 185. We have been doing a kind of modified Smolov, Jr., just going 2 days a week since he is working out at school too. We have 2 more workouts left to complete it. I knew he was stronger now than we started it. To start at 70% of his max we started at 125. He did it but didn't think he could do 6 sets so we dropped to 65%, rounded off to 115. He did it but it was hard. He did 7 sets of 5 yesterday at 140 pounds. And only his last rep on the last 2 sets looked to be anywhere near hard. I had not heard of Smolov, Jr. until it was mentioned on here last year but it seems to be working for him.

He was doubly proud yesterday. First, for getting the 185. Second, because one of his best friends has always been 5-10 pounds ahead of him on bench. Yesterday my son got 185 and his friend got 165. He was excited to be ahead of his friend. But, as he said, his friend's bench had gone down because he was playing varsity basketball and they don't go to workout during the last period of school as they go ahead and start basketball practice. My son played junior varsity this past season so some days he was in the gym for the last period and some at the Fieldhouse working out. Plus we did workout on our own also. He was kind of amazed that his buddy dropped that much over the course of basketball season. But it also helped him realize even more the benefit of continuing to workout.

I told his brother about him going up on his bench. He said that's good. Then he added that we need to get his squat up. He wants us to get his squat up by 40 pounds before this year is over. I think we will start Smolov, Jr. for his squats too.

We finished the Smolov, Jr for his Bench Press probably around the first of April. Last week he told me that he went up another 5 pounds on his bench to 190. Saturday we did his bench using drop sets. Then on Monday he went up another 5 pounds on his bench to 195. That was the goal his coach had set for him. He is really seeing and understanding how he is benefitting from the extra work we are doing.

I looked back to last year and on April 1, 2012, his bench max was 150. So he has gone up 45 pounds in the last 13 months. He has also gained 15 pounds. Reading this forum has really helped me to help him.

Some of you know this but our older son got home from college around the first of May and had us start on a program that he had found. It is supposedly, at least similar to, the one that Chris Hemsworth did to prepare for his role as Thor. When we did the bench routine to start he said it was the hardest bench workout he had ever done.

We just finished the 4 week program and have had mixed success with it. I say mixed because it has helped them both in terms of their strength, and I have lost 7 pounds doing this and walking with my daughter. But, the older son has gained 7 or 8 pounds which he is very happy about. He drove last weekend to where he goes to college to see some friends and they could tell he has been working out. The younger son has lost about 5 pounds. Granted, he has also been practicing basketball for the past 2 weeks. On the other hand, he walked through the den last night looking for a shirt and our daughter made a comment about him getting cut. In his case, it is truly can't gain for losing.

I have a different question for you guys. The older brother has had us doing a Man of Steel routine. We are on week 5. His weight has stayed about the same but I can tell he is bigger. The younger brother had dropped weight earlier in the Summer while he was still doing basketball but he has put on about 7 pounds since we started this routine. Our daughter has started running and will be running her first road race, a 5K, next month. She is going to start working out with us some. She, of course, does not want to get big. She just wants to get stronger and tone up as she says. My question would be what you guys would suggest for her. I'm just trying to get some different opinions. Thanks.

I know it will be hard for her to understand this but it will be very difficult for her to get big unless she is naturally prone to that body type. However, to get stronger and tone up she will want to lift as if she were trying to get big. Or at least what she thinks will make her big.

I have a few bikini competitors that I train. One of them is 5'7" 125 pounds and I make her do heavy leg work and lighter leg work once a week. And she swears her legs have never looked better.

I know it will be hard for her to understand this but it will be very difficult for her to get big unless she is naturally prone to that body type. However, to get stronger and tone up she will want to lift as if she were trying to get big. Or at least what she thinks will make her big.

I have a few bikini competitors that I train. One of them is 5'7" 125 pounds and I make her do heavy leg work and lighter leg work once a week. And she swears her legs have never looked better.

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Additionally, I would stick to compound movements with not too much emphasis over just legs. Or just abs which seems to be the go to workouts for girls.